Rights group slams conditions in migrant centers
ATHENS — The antitorture committee of the Council of Europe, the continent’s main human rights organization, slammed the conditions under which migrants are held in some detention centers in Greece and voiced concern Thursday over persistent allegations the country illegally pushes back migrants coming from Turkey.
The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture said in a new report that Greece’s “current approach towards immigration detention must change,” and it urged Greek authorities to reform the immigration detention system. The report was based on a midMarch visit to Greece.
At the time of the visit, Greece had seen thousands of people attempting to enter the country after neighboring Turkey announced its borders to the European Union were open to anyone who wanted to cross. In response, the government shut Greece’s borders and temporarily suspended asylum applications for new arrivals.
The committee particularly criticized conditions in detention centers in the Evros region near the border with Turkey and on the Greek island of Samos, where the country’s most overcrowded camp is located. Conditions in these facilities “could amount to inhuman and degrading treatment,” its report stated.
“Therefore, Greece together with the support of the European Union, must put in place an immigration detention system which abides by European values and norms. No persons held in immigration detention in Europe should ever be subjected to treatment or conditions which amount to inhuman and degrading treatment,” the committee wrote.
Greece continues to be one of the most popular routes into the EU for people fleeing conflict and poverty in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The vast majority arrive on eastern Greek islands from the Turkish coast.
But the country has made clear it is trying to reduce the number of arrivals. According to the Migration Ministry,
Greece saw a 90% reduction in arrivals from May to October compared with the same period last year, with 4,345 people arriving during those months in 2020, compared with 44,348 in May to October 2019.
The Council of Europe committee’s report also slammed the practice of holding in protective police custody any asylumseeking children and teenagers who arrive in Greece without parents or guardians.